She has also just done a photo shoot for a cosmetic clinic and is currently filming for the BBC's new 'mocumentary' The Cup, which is centred around an under-11s football team.

Ironically, the full-time single foster mum from Hutton, near Preston, is a featured extra playing the part of a parent of a child in the show.

The 46-year-old, who has three children of her own, has fostered more than 30 children in the past five and a half years and now has two foster children living with her permanently.

She says she does the film extra work and modelling for herself as it is a good balance to the 24 hours a day, seven days a week job that is fostering.

She also has plans to write a play or book that could be turned into a script on the subject of fostering.

Before becoming a foster carer, Tracey was a childminder and when her two oldest children moved out and she had a spare room, she started fostering.

She recalls: "My first placement was the day before Christmas Eve. You can imagine it was like panic, trying to go and get them even a pair of socks. These children, they turn up with nothing some of them.

"They stayed with me three years. And now they live in the North East of England. We managed to keep them together."

Asked why she fosters, Tracey says it is all about putting the smiles back on children's faces.

"You give them back their childhood. To give a child a chance and give them back their childhood and see a smile on their face is everything to me.

"All the kids who have been with me a while, I have taken them abroad as well. I get some funny looks when they all have different names."

Youngsters can end up with foster parents for a whole host of reasons including neglect, abuse, and a parent being admitted to hospital.

Tracey's youngest daughter Paris, 13, has spoken to people thinking of foster caring and chatted to their children about it. Tracey's determination to promote fostering is her motivation for joining a team of people walking the gruelling Inca Trail in Peru later this year to raise both awareness and funds for the Fostering Network.

Tracey works for the Fostering Partnership and the group will be at the May Day Fate in Hutton on May 5 if anybody wants to find out more about fostering or make a donation.

She needs to raise £3,000 to take part in the Inca Trail challenge.

Fostering Fortnight runs from May 12-25.